Author's Note: This chapter marks where the story starts straying away from canon events, in case you haven't noticed. Again, you already know this, but Puella Magi Madoka Magica doesn't belong to me. Though that'd be pretty awesome if I did, because well, Mami.
Chapter 4: Analogous Masquerade
"Jeez, can't you let me go already? You win!" I cried, struggling against Mami's ribbons. We were practicing inside my new abode, the abandoned warehouse. It was a nice, remote place for a battle between magical girls. We've spent the entire afternoon dueling after school to hone my skills; unfortunately my training was not going well. Mami was a formidable opponent with plenty of experience and a healthy mix of close and far ranged attacks; I had a silk cannon. As neat as I had originally found my cannon, I was too inept with it to be effective against a witch, let alone Mami.
It was the day after Sayaka had made a contract with Kyubey and the day of when she felt the need to tell us.
"Your form needs some work, but you are very strong," Mami consoled me as her ribbons slackened and released me, "would you like to go over my notes about magic?" Having lost for the third time that afternoon, we decided to go back to her place for some tea. Tea was usually bitter to me, but Mami had sweetened it to a comfortable level to suit my taste. She was very patient, explaining her more complex theories and observations over magic in detail, and how it relates to personality. I was surprised to discover that Mami's real magic was her ribbons, rather than her muskets. Apparently using a weapon is more magically efficient than one's natural ability, as long as it ties to one's personality suitably; demonstrated when Mami lent me her musket, and it exploded in an orange dusty cloud.
"How did you enjoy school today?" Mami asked, sipping her tea and ending her lecture. I continued to chew some pastry she gave me until I could swallow properly.
"Eh, it's really boring. The classes are dull, the teacher never shuts up about men, and I still don't understand why everyone (except that one girl) has a laptop when we have books!" Mami stopped sipping her tea and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You really don't like school, don't you? You're just like Sayaka," she commented in a bemused tone with a hint of a smile. That aside, her comment reminded me of a question I had.
"Why does everyone keep calling you 'senior'? I mean, you are our senior, but I don't understand the title." It took her a minute to think about, remembering that I wasn't Japanese and wouldn't likely understand their culture very well.
"It's an honorific, but sometimes can be used by itself. You only hear your classmates call me 'senior', right?" I nodded, finally understanding. Whatever magic was translating the Japanese language for me wasn't translating honorifics very well, due to the different grammar structure English has. I could hear pronouns like "sir" and "miss" but everything else was lost to me. I've gotten used to it, but it was a little unsettling to see people's lips move for a few seconds, silently, after saying someone's name.
After taking a quick nap in her apartment, I headed off as Mami went off to patrol the city in hunt of witches with Sayaka. After training Sayaka was planning on spending time around some boy she was infatuated with. Homura was a little miffed that I had wasted a perfectly good grief seed ("she's just a witch") and was out looking for a replacement, making my choices rather limited on how to pass the day. Spending the day with Madoka crossed my mind, but shot down by the possibility of running into Homura and her foul mood. One wonders what goes on inside her head. With all possibilities spent, I decided to explore the city.
Apparently I was in Mitakihara City and boy, was it big. Japan may be completely alien to me, but walking in the big city reminded me of home. Some vendors were selling Japanese foods and snacks; one bargain caught my eye. Fishing in my pocket for some change I borrowed from Mami (boy, that girl was loaded), I bought a packet of each of my two favorite foods from Japan: ramen and pocky. Pocketing the ramen for later, because it was just snack sized, I nibbled on some delicious pocky. It was so delicious I was lost in the bliss that was pocky and almost missed a red flash on a rooftop nearby. I finished the pocky I was eating and ran to the building. Luckily I was near the outskirts of the city where the buildings weren't skyscrapers.
I could have sworn I saw a girl with red hair on the rooftop. A quick flashback reminded me that Mami and Homura (and probably Sayaka by now) had a bad habit of jumping high onto rooftops and streetlamps. Stepping back a few feet, I figured a running start would be enough to compensate for not being in a transformed state. With a quick jog, a leap and bound, I somehow managed to make it on my first try. Mami had mentioned I was pretty strong, which made me smile at my accomplishment. With the first trial over, I returned to the task at hand. A quick scan of the area revealed a red flash leaping from rooftop to rooftop to the north. It was almost too fast for me to follow. Deciding that speed was more important than inconspicuousness, my ring took on its egg form and shined brightly, transforming me into my more powerful form.
As I approached the red flash, hopping from building to building, she stopped and turned to face me, forcing me to stomp on the brakes. We stood on opposite ends of the rooftop, staring at each other, the sun dipping into the horizon, washing us in orange light. The girl before me had fiery, long hair and fierce eyes. She had a rather nice blue hoody and boots, but her shorts were… eh.
"What do you want?" the girl asked, taking a bit out of an apple she held in her hand. Her casual snacking at this supposedly symbolic moment began to irk me. Here I was, in a magical girl outfit, having chased her for nearly a mile and bathed in orange light (that probably made me look hot) and she just eats an apple and acts like I'm some random passerby. For a magical girl, she wasn't very pleasant. I puffed my cheeks in frustration. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a piece of pocky to put in my mouth, and conjured my shield cannon. The redhead just eyed me with amused eyes. Deciding to take the initiative before she could transform, I pounced forward and aimed my shield cannon…
Sayaka and Mami were having the most taxing day ever. They were walking home after a difficult battle with a witch. Sayaka slayed familiars easily as any other magical girl, but the witch itself was difficult. Today's barrier featured a hotel theme: a neatly carpeted red floor and beige halls big enough to be labeled chambers. Scattered on the floor were bits and pieces of fallen elevators scattered about, created by the witch. Smeared on the walls were streaks of black ooze with a sickly sweet smell and red paper hearts plastered on it, as if a toddler had decorated her room. Sayaka was a brave, noble soul, but even she felt unease walking through the barrier. After a few turns the ooze began dripping on the walls and had more items covering it. Tiny objects and clothing became more prevalent on the walls, and even the floors. Once the floor became completely cluttered Sayaka discovered, on closer inspection, that the tiny items were everything a teen girl would carry in her purse; from make-up to jewelry. Mami attempted to cheer up Sayaka on her first witch hunt, but not even her sisterly persona could shake the creepy feeling both girls shared for the witch.
Eventually their journey came to a halt; in front of them was a massive elevator approximately 2 stories high. There were no buttons beside it, no floor indicator, nothing to call upon the glory of the elevator. The only distinguishable mark the door had was a large pink heart insignia placed in the middle, sealing the door. Mami and Sayaka exchanged a few glances, shrugged, and Mami proceeded to fire her Tiro Finale at the heart. With a satisfying pop, the heart disappeared and the doors slowly opened. With the witch's lair revealed, the magical girl duo rushed in, ready to take on their new opponent.
The battle started like any other. The witch was a bizarre amalgamation of flesh and magic, just like any other witch. Its colors were the same as its barrier: a rough mix of brown, beige and red. If Sayaka had to compare the unearthly entity to anything at all, she's most likely mention stuffing a poodle into a purse. The eldritch creature appeared to wear a half-mask resembling a valentine heart, but the pointed bottom cut off to reveal razor jaws dripping black ooze. Mami confronted the witch, as planned, while Sayaka fought off the familiars and kept them off Mami's back. The swarm of familiars vaguely resembled shadow-like human brutes with incredibly large arms, attempting to punch Sayaka multiple times. Sayaka reacted by hopping back, weaving, and slicing their arms off with her magnificent sword. Fortunately there wasn't a huge swarm of witches as in the case of Charlotte, but the powerful familiars kept Sayaka on her toes.
Mami was experienced enough to handle the witch quite well. Her masterful use of muskets magic held off the witch's barrage of missiles and whips. Because of her veteran status, Mami managed to finish off the witch by firing a shot onto the witch's jaw, dislodging it, and then finishing it off with a Tiro Finale right into the witch's gullet. The barrier dissolved around them as the witch burst into a grief seed, a well-earned treat for the duo. Caring as always, Mami allowed Sayaka to clean her gem before using up the rest of the grief seed, finally clearing the black fluid from her soul gem. Pocketing the grief seed to return to Kyubey later, Mami led the way to the nearest store for dinner, as it was getting late and Sayaka had missed her meal at home. Sayaka was more than pleased to leave behind the dark alley they had to enter to delve into the barrier, most likely the result of a certain lazy magical girl dropping her used grief seed upon entering the city, as Mami had mused.
After school, Homura was having the time of her life. Armed with binoculars, she surveyed the area as Madoka wandered within her house. She would never admit it, but inside her stoic persona was a girl who really, really, really (no I mean really) loved shooting Kyubey into a corpse resembling Swiss cheese. Whenever Kyubey tried approaching the huge house, Homura would freeze time, jump up behind him, and use the first gun she had on hand to decorate him with. Kyubey did not seem to understand the problem as he continuously regenerated and approached Madoka's home. While he wasn't able to understand human emotions, Homura pondered that perhaps humanity's persistence had rubbed off on him.
After a few hours of repeatedly killing the contractor, Kyubey appeared to give up and left the area, in search of other girls to contract. Homura sighed, lowering her binoculars in quiet disappointment. She rewarded herself for a job well done with a well-deserved hair flip. Ever since she ditched the pigtails she couldn't help but play with it, despite her cool-headedness. When the coast was clear, Homura leaped down from the roof she had stood upon and left the area, deeming Madoka safe for another day. At first she walked toward her residence, an operational base as one may say, but changed her mind and instead headed more toward the outskirts of a city.
Time travel was a fickle ability. Homura noticed changes every time she had looped back, each an anomaly rather than a change she had brought on; minor changes like the instrument that Sayaka's boy played to major changes such as the important date: the-
"This is the last time," Homura murmured to herself. She shook the name of the despicable witch from her mind; it was not time to think about such things. Right now she had to focus and scout out the nearby witch lairs. There were witches that Homura had fought countless times, like Charlotte. However, like the witch due in approximately three weeks' time, each witch had its own twisted sense of purpose and direction, making no future knowledge reliable enough to efficiently track every witch in the area. For grief seed hunting purposes, Homura preferred witches she had fought before to minimize magic used, thus allowing her to keep the seed for later. If there was an unknown witch placed in a position to pressure Madoka to contract, Homura was more than ready to step in.
The most startling witch Homura had faced was the witch of stars. This was the first timeline Homura had encountered it, and hopefully the last as well. It was the first witch Homura found to be made of light, a strange concept Homura found fascinating yet startling. The witch's barrier was nothing but a void of darkness rivaled by the witch's luminance. The familiars were nothing but spherical lights, flickering and weaving in and out of the darkness of the barrier's void. Homura had thought nothing of it at the time, figuring something would be able to destroy the witch. However, as she flew toward the witch (apparently gravity was nonexistent here), she noticed that the familiars flying toward the witch were different. Wanting to study the mysterious witch before it noticed her; she had flown toward one of the on route familiars and froze time.
Homura's magic was strange, as theory would suggest that completely stopping time would stop light as well and render a time stopper blind. It was either through magic or a hidden mechanism in her shield that allowed Homura to see the bright familiar regardless. Of course Homura did not have time to learn nor think about such things. Homura was three days into her latest time loop when she received her first shock.
The familiar was a boy.
Homura floated closer, inspecting the boy. She only had a minute, but countless experience made her an expert in analysis. The boy was around her age and normal in appearance. The light that made up the familiar appeared to be a violet miasma with a murky formed collar around the boy's neck, essentially enveloping the boy. Homura widened her eyes. She had already prevented Madoka and Kyubey's first meeting, and was only gathering an extra seed. No matter what day she was in, Homura's moral code was not the same as Kyoko's. Even if it was a familiar, Homura still valued human life, only placing Madoka above all else. Her minute ran out.
Time began again. The boy's eyes remained close as he continued to fly toward his doom. Off in the distance Homura could see with her improved vision bodies floating around the witch, half devoured. The bright witch was slowly disintegrating the humans with her bright yellow miasma. One poor familiar flew close and disintegrated in a scarlet burst as the purple and yellow miasma met. Homura scanned the area as she trailed the boy, noticing that there was no other familiar anymore, making the boy last. Deciding that one life was worth expending a little magic, Homura sped up and tackled the boy. While the body remained dead-weight, the miasma had a life of its own and reared up. The magical girl and the familiar circled and tackled each other a few times, Homura blocking with her shield and the familiar forming a bubble around its precious load. Eventually the miasma weakened and dissolved after enough blows. Immediately the boy fell down, apparently not affected by the anti-gravity. Homura flew down toward him as fast as she could, trying to reach maximum velocity. The void she was flying through appeared to be a tunnel, and as she grabbed the boy she swore she saw a new city underneath her. Homura flew up, set the boy down on a shard of darkness floating by, and confronted the witch. The witch was easily defeated with one of Homura's homemade bombs, ironically enough. After the battle, despite knowing she couldn't manage another burden, Homura took the unconscious boy home to take care of him.
Homura didn't have much of plan that night. She planned to take him to Mami's residence the next morning, knowing that her kind and lonely nature would urge her to nurse the boy, but Homura wasn't sure what to do that night. Homura had relied on her magic for all her medical needs, so maintaining another human's health was an alien concept to her. Whenever the boy moaned in the corner, whining about his sister, she tried wetting a towel and putting it on his forehead. Over the span of one night Homura was nearly driven crazy by her sick ward. After the fifth time being woken up by the boy's nightmarish screams, Homura stood by his sleeping body. She towered over him for a moment, calculating the distance to Mami's home. Then an idea struck Homura's mind. She kneeled down by the boy, and leaned forward…
Homura shook her head, pushing the memory into the deep recessed of her mind. The witch was dead, and what she did with the boy… Homura blushed lightly at the thought. She hoped her decision wouldn't come back to haunt her. Her pondering was caught short when she saw a familiar white cat running across the street toward a diner. Figuring she had nothing better to do than fill an empty stomach, Homura follow suit.
Madoka was having the worst day ever. Having spent the night tossing and turning over her thoughts about a wish possibly worth risking her life for, her morning was ruined by a bad hair day. One of her pigtails was completely ruined; all the pressure on that side of her head caused it to frizzle everywhere, creating a nest on one side of her head. No amount of showering would cure her ridiculous cursed hair, so eventually Madoka's mother forced her to go to school. Madoka, good girl as always, chose not to argue and went to school. Madoka was a sweet girl who was proud to have never been late to school in the morning.
Madoka's faithful friends were waiting for her, as always. Hitomi had ran ahead for something she hadn't bothered to tell her friends about, leaving Madoka with Sayaka and Mami. Seeing Madoka's rat nest, Mami discreetly conjured and lent Madoka her magical hat, without the soul gem of course. A few people stared at the hat, but otherwise people left Madoka alone without any questions. School was boring as always. Madoka wasn't particularly skilled at mathematics, but art was fun for her today. The mood was ruined by a mediocre score in a science test that day given to her. Madoka sighed, not in the mood to complain. Sayaka had slept through several of the classes and nearly failed the test as well, amusingly enough.
What ultimately made the day gloomy was her loneliness. Madoka spent the entire day inside her house, studying. Her mother was out working, her father was boring to talk to unless it was to learn a valuable life lesson, and her brother was out with a playmate for the day. Mami was probably finishing up practice with Aki and was Sayaka was getting ready to go on her first witch hunt with Mami. Madoka hadn't quite talked to Homura much yet, but not even she was around to talk to. Not even Kyubey, who was interested in contracting Madoka, had bothered to visit her abode. Madoka sighed again, it wasn't in her nature to complain about such minor things but all teenagers eventually succumb to boredom. She got up, grabbed a few yen, and headed outside toward the city. She had saved up enough to visit the music store and perhaps eat dinner at a really cheap diner.
Kyubey was having the strangest day ever. His morning stalking the pink Madoka girl was interrupted by his body suddenly bursting. Using some energy from the area, he regenerated as quickly as he could. Unfortunately he had lost the potential magical girl. Kyubey, not having human-like desires, truly wanted to contract the cautious girl. Her potential was enough to fill his entire quota two times over, which would fill Kyubey with the closest alien equivalent of glee. Kyubey journeyed to the school on foot, only to be defeated by his nemesis: the door. Kyubey was invisible to all normal humans, the only exceptions being ones he used magic to reveal himself and those with potential to be magical girls, the former boy Kyubey encountered being an anomaly to be surveyed. This fail-safe came with one flaw: no one could open the door. He dare not reveal himself to the world, knowing that any normal human being would see him as an abomination. But Kyubey did not have the power to open the door himself, nor was he in range to contact anyone who could.
Giving up on the door, Kyubey waited until school was over to continue his pressuring on Madoka. However, for the entire afternoon, he continued to mysterious blow up within twenty feet of the girl. Dying was no big deal for Kyubey, but repeatedly dying in one area slowed his regeneration, as the energy in the surrounding area needed to be replenished beforehand. He eventually got to her house, but was destroyed every time he tried to enter. After a few hours of persistence, Kyubey finally gave up rationalizing that Madoka was under a witch's spell and that Mami would save her. Kyubey had no physical need to eat, but still required energy, so he headed off to the nearest diner to swipe food to replenish himself. After all, it was his job to conserve energy, and stealing energy from nature was detrimental to his task.
…and promptly got my ass kicked. The redheaded girl had no need to transform, instead just giving me a swift kick to the head and launching me backwards. I flew backward a few feet on the rooftop and landed on my head. The girl walked toward me as I rubbed my head in pain. Redhead finished her treat and offered her hand. I grabbed it and helped myself up. The girl stood beside me and slapped me on the back.
"I admit kid, you got spunk. It's usually me beating up on the rookies. This is the first time a newbie took the initiative," the redhead boasted, "Here, have an apple, my treat." I hesitantly took the red fruit and decided to play it safe. Her personality wasn't completely violent, so I figured I could sway her with a few well-chosen words.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Name's Kyoko," the girl replied, snatching my apple away and munching on it carelessly. Kyoko didn't have a very attractive personality, but she did have her charming points. It took her a few moments to notice my male gaze.
"Ouch, what the hell was that for?"
"Stop staring at me you pervert!"
"I can't help it when you're wearin-"Apparently that was the last straw as Kyoko threw her apple away and tackled me. I hadn't provoked her enough to warrant a lethal fight, but wrestling was incredible difficult. Mami had judged my physical strength higher than hers, but Kyoko giving me a run for my money. Eventually we just fell over and began rolling over each other, dangerously close to the roof's edge. Kyoko got the upper hand, sat on top of me and pinned my arms to my side. It was humiliating to be at her mercy, so I decided to throw in my last trick.
"SHE'S GOT CHEESE!" I screamed as loud as I could. Out of nowhere came a maniacal laugh approaching at high speeds. Kyoko turned her head as Charlotte tackled her face at lightning speed. Charlotte, being a witch, was still physically superior to a human; just enough to topple Kyoko, who pulled me with her, over the edge. We fell down a whole story in front of a diner, with Kyoko landing on top again. I groaned in pain, having broken her fall and still managing to be humiliated. Kyoko was in pain as well, and struggled to escape the frills of my dress, which now had dirt and tears all over it. Someone coughed to our side.
"Oh, hey guys…" I whimpered, crawling out from under Kyoko. My body was in pain and I wasn't in the mood to whine about the situation. Kyoko on the other hand…
"You know this chick! She chased me, attacked me, and acted like complete pervert! Punish her Tomoe!" Kyoko screamed at Mami. Apparently everyone had gathered here for dinner or something. Sayaka and Madoka were sitting next to each other at a nice round table with an umbrella, while Homura was just walking out the front. Kyubey was eating a meatball at a nearby table, obviously watching Madoka. Mami had walked up to us when we landed during our squabble, obviously concerned. Confident I could diffuse the situation; I painfully stood up and dusted myself off.
"Relax Kyoko. I'm just jealous of your boots, that's all."
"Bull." To prove it, I showed off my lackluster brown boots that came with the uniform.
"See? The dress is all fine and all, but these boots just don't go with it. Brown doesn't work with it, don't you think?" Kyoko merely scoffed at my comment, but decided to leave it. She checked out my outfit, noting the lolita pattern, and bought it. Despite the fact I was still male inside, I was actually fawning over her boots. Any good magical girl, no matter their gender, strived for good fashion. I figured if I was going to risk my life fighting monsters that created the curses of the world, I might as well look good while doing it.
The rest of the group's meeting wasn't so eventful. After our scuffle was over, Kyoko and I were invited to eat dinner with the rest. I was surprised to see Kyubey eating with us, but Homura allowed it just this once. Kyoko kept stealing my food, but it was the threat of Sayaka cleaving my head off with her sword that kept me from saying anything. Kyoko was rather rude, especially to Mami, but got along with everyone as well as someone like Kyoko would. The only person I really spoke to was Mami, and all it was about was magic. Charlotte nibbled on some cheese, the cute thing.
After dinner was over, I scooped up Charlotte and headed toward our abode. Everyone else seemed to have an exhausting day as well and headed home with their farewells. It was quite a walk from the diner to our home, especially since I was too exhausted to do any roof hopping. Everywhere around me a car was honking its horn or revving its engine. Something in me wondered of this strange city ever slept. A gang of boys stopped their expensive looking car (it was red, but I didn't recognize the make) and said a few lewd things to me. Charlotte offered to eat them but I compromised by saying something rude back. It wasn't enough to completely daunt them, but they were reasonable enough to leave me alone. On the final stretch home, something in an alley caught my eye.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked the brown haired girl, hugging her knees and sitting on a flat cardboard box. The girl was sniffing and appeared to be recovering from a recent cry. She was wearing my school uniform. I took me a moment but then I realized who she was.
"Oh, you're the poor girl, right?" The girl looked up at me with her brown eyes, a familiar sad feeling behind them. It was so familiar it struck a chord within me. I hadn't realized…
"I'm sorry… what's your name?" I asked politely, trying to atone for my insensitivity. The girl sniffed once more and wiped her nose on her dirty sleeve.
"I'm Bikou Botan," Botan stood up and fixed her tattered hair. "My family is poor, but I appreciate if you use my name please." She made eye contact with me, having to look up an inch or so. She looked kind of cute now that I thought about it.
"What are you doing here? It's nighttime, some guys were just hitting on me, and so I doubt you want something happening here." Botan looked at the ground.
"I caught my father drinking tonight, so I ran out before he noticed I've seen him drunk." I whistled at the weight of her statement. Feeling generous I sensed the need to extend the hand of friendship. I reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her behind me as I walked the way home.
"Where are we going?" Botan asked nervously. I grinned at her.
"Home. You're staying the night. Don't worry, I know a place."
Whew, that concludes that chapter. Consider that the breather episode. Healthy amount of foreshadowing, show how things are changing, and focus on the all the important characters. Sorry that this came rather late, but you know how College is. Perhaps I'll throw in an extra half-chapter: "Charlotte's Adventure!"
